Business Matters and the T&G moving forward

Sunday

Mar 3, 2013 at 6:00 AM

Aaron Nicodemus ON BUSINESS

There's a lot to talk about this week regarding Business Matters, so let's get right to it.

We are expanding, have received some recognition and plan to host a roundtable this spring about a startup common. We are also the only place in Central Massachusetts — and perhaps the nation — where you can read award-winning journalism explaining the commercialization of goat and rabbit milk.

Confused? I will make sense of it all, I promise.

Business Matters is adding new content online that will be available on Saturdays, and we are revamping content in the Monday print edition of the Telegram & Gazette. The Monday page will be redesigned and themed as Business Matters.

Since Business Matters was launched in October 2011, Peter Cohan's Wall & Main column has appeared in the Sunday print edition of Business Matters, as well as on telegram.com. Starting tomorrow, his Monday column will appear in the print edition of the Telegram & Gazette as well. (His Wednesday column will continue to appear only online).

Tomorrow we launch a new feature, called Business Monday. It is a story that looks ahead, examines business trends and generally gives readers something to think about at the start of the business week. Look for reporter Lisa Eckelbecker's Business Monday story tomorrow, about a local retail trend, in the Telegram & Gazette.

Mitch Lipka's Consumer Alert column, which had appeared on the Monday business page, has been moved into the Living section of today's Sunday Telegram. His column is paired with consumer news. It will now appear on Sundays.

The comic strip Dilbert will remain on the Monday business page.

In addition to the changes in print, we've made some changes online as well.

We have launched a new Business Matters eEdition and cellphone/tablet application, or app. The browser version of the eEdition is available at telegram.com/businessmatters. If you have an iPhone or iPad, you can download the free Business Matters app at the Apple Store, under Worcester T&G.

Readers who download the app or find the browser version will be able to read Business Matters on Saturday, a day before the section appears in print and on telegram.com.

On top of all that, the Telegram & Gazette is planning a business roundtable, to be held sometime this spring, to discuss the idea of a startup common in Worcester.

Peter Cohan, who has written extensively on the topic in our pages and in a new book, will lead the discussion. We hope the roundtable will include entrepreneurs, business leaders, local colleges and universities, and some chief executive officers of some local startups. Stay tuned for more details.

All this change comes as the section has received some positive feedback.

Several weeks ago, Business Matters was named the Best Business Page or Section for newspapers with circulation of more than 30,000 by the New England Newspaper and Press Association, in its 2012 Better Newspaper Competition.

The judges described our Sunday business magazine as a “beautifully structured weekly business section; great subject mix; good ad support.” Our competition included other large and mid-sized newspapers such as the Boston Herald and daily papers from such cities as Quincy, Springfield, Hyannis, Lowell, Lawrence, Manchester, N.H., Waterbury, Conn., and Bangor, Maine.

In addition, one of Business Matters' cover stories, by staff writer Lisa Eckelbecker, won a second-place award in the 30,000 or more circulation category for science and technology reporting. The story focused on GTC Biotherapeutics, a Charlton biotech company that is making medicines from human proteins cloned in the milk produced by goats and rabbits.

The cover photo for that March 25, 2012, story was of a baby goat, which probably caught the judges' attention.

But here are my favorite lines from the story:

“Rabbits may seem a strange choice for a dairy operation, but they possess qualities that would appeal to investors,” said X. Cindy Tian, associate professor at the University of Connecticut's Center for Regenerative Biology, in the story.

“We understand a lot about rabbit embryology, so it's real easy to do all the transgenic work. Also, they're very prolific. They have multiple litters, and they mature rapidly,” she said. “So the production cycle is short. Within a year, or if you work hard, within half a year, you should have product for testing.”

At the time, all the rabbits that were being milked were kept at a farm in France. GTC Therapeutics representatives told Lisa that they would begin raising rabbits for milking in Charlton this year. We'll have to get back there soon. I sure want to know how they milk rabbits.

Contact Aaron Nicodemus by email at anicodemus@telegram.com or at (508) 793-9473.